Voter turnout of 15.74 per cent was recorded till 10 am across 22 districts in Punjab on Sunday. Polling for 117 urban local bodies is underway in the state.
As polling for 117 local bodies including eight municipal corporations and 109 municipal councils and nagar panchayats is underway in Punjab, Bathinda recorded the highest voters' turnout with 48.42 per cent polling till 12 pm on Sunday.
Ludhiana's Sahiwal Nagar witnessed 20 per cent voter's turnout till 10 am while the polling percentage in Ludhiana's Jagraon was 13 per cent. The voters' turnout in Ludhiana' Payal was recorded at 14.6 per cent till 10 am. The voting trend at Jalandhar Municipal Corporation was 14 per cent while it was 22.62 per cent in Nihal Singh Wala in Moga district.
The main contest is among the ruling Congress, the main opposition Aam Aadmi Party and the Shiromani Akali Dal.
The BJP, which is facing anger over the contentious Central farm laws, is also in the fray. It is contesting the polls for the first time in two decades without the Akalis, the oldest NDA ally that has parted ways from it over farm laws.
The voting began at 8 am on Sunday and it will continue till 4 pm. The counting of votes will take place on February 17 while the results of the polls will be declared on February 20.
A total of 9,222 candidates are in the fray for elections to 2,302 wards of the eight municipal corporations of Abohar, Bathinda Batala, Kapurthala, Mohali, Hoshiarpur, Pathankot and Moga and 109 municipal councils and nagar panchayats in the state.
Out of total candidates, 2,832 are contesting as independents, 2,037 are of the ruling Congress while 1,569 are Akali Dal nominees.
The number of candidates of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Aam Aadmi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party is 1,003, 1,606 and 160 respectively.
As many as 19,000 police personnel have been deputed to conduct free and fair elections, an SEC spokesperson said.
There are 20,49,777 male, 18,65,354 female and 149 transgender voters, totalling 39,15,280 registered voters in the state for the civic body elections, he said.
(With inputs from Agencies)
